NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images(CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday night held a campaign-style rally in Iowa, at which he congratulated the Republican winners of Tuesday’s special elections in South Carolina and Georgia. He also sent his well wishes to Rep. Steve Scalise, who was injured in last week’s shooting in Alexandria, Virginia.
“It is great to be back in the incredible, beautiful state of Iowa,” Trump told the crowd at U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. “It’s always terrific to be able to leave that Washington swamp and spend time with the truly hard working people we call American Patriots, truly amazing people.”
He then congratulated Karen Handel, who won the Georgia special election, and Ralph Norman, who won the South Carolina special election.
“I also want to extend our congratulations to Karen Handel of Georgia,” the president said. “And we can’t forget Ralph Norman in South Carolina. He called me and I called him. He said, ‘you know what? I felt like the forgotten man.’ But he won beautifully. A lot of people didn’t show up because they thought he would win … Karen is going to be really incredible.”
Trump added that Handel will target “tax cuts, reducing crime, securing that Second Amendment, and that looks like it’s in great shape with Judge Gorsuch.”
According to the Georgia Secretary of State, Handel beat Democrat Jon Ossoff by a 52.13 percent-47.87 percent margin. That translated to 132,459 votes for Handel, and 121,635 votes for Ossoff. And in South Carolina, Republican Ralph Norman won Tuesday’s special election in that state’s 5th Congressional District, defeating Democrat Archie Parnell with 51 percent of the vote. Parnell had roughly 48 percent of the vote.
At the rally, the president said of Scalise, “I would like to take this moment to send out thoughts to our courageous friend Steve Scalise and everyone recovering from the assault.”
He continued, “so to Steve we say, he was a great guy … we’re praying for you, we’re pulling for you. You have our full support …and our gratitude tonight goes out as well to the Capitol Police.
Prior to his rally, Trump visited Kirkwood Community College to get briefed on agricultural technology being developed there. Among the machines he saw was a “combine simulator” — a virtual way to practice using a combine.
Following his visit to the college, Trump told reporters he had “just learned more about farming than I ever thought I’d learn.”
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